Published: Thursday, 18th March, 2010 6:00am

Jockey's World Hurdle chance

by Sam Berkeley

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Haddington's Gillies takes on the cream of Cheltenham

CHELTENHAM hopeful Campbell Gillies was saddling up for the "biggest race of his career" when he prepared to take on the UK's elite hunt racers in the Ladbrokes' World Hurdle yesterday (Thursday).

The 19-year-old jockey from Haddington was due to compete in one of the most prestigious races of the four-day Cheltenham Festival - up against seasoned campaigners Ruby Walsh and Tony McCoy - and was in with a shout of a £260,000 combined prize pool.

Speaking to Courier Sport ahead of the lucrative race, Gillies, who lived in High Street before moving to Kinross to work alongside trainer Lucinda Russell, was stoical about the prospect of a shock victory but said his 33-1 shot 'Lie Forrit' was in with an outside chance.

"This is absolutely the biggest race of my life and I am really looking forward to riding in it," said the teenager on the eve of his career-defining ride. "Realisitically, if I finished in the top six I would be over-the-moon," he said.

"We are up against some of the top riders in the country and the horse has a mountain to climb in this race.

"However, we will give it everything and see what happens.

"I will definitely be trying to win."

The first six jockeys to complete the race will take a share of the prize money while punters only pocket winnings for the first three horses across the line.

Gillies has hailed his Irish nag 'Lie Forrit' - trained by Hawick trainer Willie Amos and jointly owned by the jockey's grandfather John McNeill, mum Lesley and uncle Crawford McNeil - the "best horse" he had ever ridden and the six-year-old gelding has turned in some remarkable performances to win at Newbury and the hallowed Cheltenham towards the end of last year.

But a poor race at the Cleeve Hurdle at Cheltenham in January - where the six-year-old refused a jump - has diluted some of the euphoria surrounding Lie Forrit.

"I suppose he was not on a good day back in January and was not the horse everyone that knows him knows he can be," said Gillies.

"But I saw the horse on Monday in Hawick and he seems to be healthy and in good form.

"I spoke to Willie [Amos] and he is confident the horse is well and should be fit and ready to race."

Gillies endured an inauspicious debut outing in Cheltenham last year where his ride finished halfway down the pack in the County Hurdle.

And at Aintree in October he suffered a punctured lung, cracked ribs and bruised kidney in a bizzare fall.

But the rejuvenated jockey - who was warming up for the big race with meets in Sedgefield and Huntingdon - was relishing the coming challenge.

The Ladbrokes World Hurdle was due to run yesterday (Thursday) at 3.20pm